


In an alternate universe, we play pretend

by NaraMerald



Series: Bangtan Sonyeodan [9]
Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Ace character., Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Always a girl! J-Hope, Always a girl! Jimin, Always a girl! Jungkook, Always a girl! Rap Monster, Bangtan are not as successful., Bangtan don't really know each other well., J-Hope is not always a ray of sunshine., Jimin is still a cutie., Jin's in a shitty position., Jungkook is carrying the group., Rap Monster is Rap Mistress., Rap Monster is fighting against the world., Reverse-mix-gender-Bangtan, Suga's kind of an accidental dick., V has no friends., the kids aren't alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-17
Packaged: 2018-05-14 12:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5743609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NaraMerald/pseuds/NaraMerald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How would BTS change if they were a co-ed group?<br/>Or: Gender-swap-gender-swap AU. (Jimin, Rap Monster, Jungkook and J-Hope are the girls.) </p><p>The problem, Hoseok thinks, is that they’re all trying to pretend to be someone that they’re not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In an alternate universe, we play pretend

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out far more depressing than I meant it to be?
> 
>  
> 
> Also I'm trying my best to get #7 (last of the original series) finished but Jimin seems to be my kryptonite! 
> 
> Also I moved countries. I live in Himeji, Japan now! :D It's cold here. 
> 
> Have a nice (maybe nasty, actually... eh... EH?) surprise for you in the not so far away future!

Hoseok knows Bangtan almost didn’t get the go-ahead, knows that their 7 member group very nearly was something entirely different. It makes them all nervous, makes them push that bit harder. Bangtan don’t really fit together neatly, and Seokjin-oppa told her quietly one night that when Hyosang-oppa left, Big Hit were scrambling to fill the rapper position. They filled it with Namjoon, and when they needed another member, along came Jimin.

Co-ed bands are still relatively unusual. A majority female co-ed band is unheard of enough, let alone a majority female rap line. Big Hit were so nervous that half of the teasers for their first single were of silhouettes. Then the girls had teasers alone- dance line showing off their skills to Namjoon’s strong rapping. When the boys got their teaser, Yoongi-oppa rapped and they just stood posing and looked vaguely intimidating. 

It was bad timing, really. Because of Troublemaker, Big Hit were wary of another deep-voice-female-rapper and sweet-male-singer combo, but they were equally wary of a purely singing/ purely rap combo. To be honest- Big Hit were somewhat bewildered by them in general. Hoseok sighs. Bangtan is awkward, and they all know it. 

Where does she start? The problem, Hoseok thinks, is that they’re all trying to pretend to be someone that they’re not. They’re unbalanced, and they’re unbalanced in almost every way. The female line, apart from Jeonggukie and Namjoonie, are far better dancers than singers. The male line hate and resent dancing. The female line are majority rappers if you count Jeonggukkie as a rapper, and the male line mainly singers. But they’re not quite separate enough to make it work- the female line can’t just dance because of Namjoon. The male line can’t just sing because of Yoongi. 

Seokjin-oppa is the eldest, the most handsome, their “Prince” figure. Seokjin has the weight of the world on his shoulders, because he and Namjoon are co-leaders. This also, is practically unheard of. Namjoon has the leadership skills for the group, but being female and being young count against her. Seokjin isn’t really suited, personality-wise, to be a leader, but Big Hit figure he has both the wisdom and the physical presence to be leader. It drives Namjoon crazy, knowing that if she’d been male it would be her alone, and Seokjin feels terrible for it. It’s awkward, and everyone can tell. 

In a girl-heavy band, Seokjin has to be overtly masculine. It’s not that he’s not masculine; he’s hot as hell and all of the girls have drooled over him more than once. But Seokjin’s favourite colour is pink, and that’s a band secret. Seokjin’s love for Mario is played up- but with emphasis on the gaming. He loves food, but his love of cooking is a secret. Seokjin’s lack of ability to dance is always hyped up with masculinity. And even though Seokjin can sing sweetly, he often has to yell lines and stand tall, or show off his muscles and wear sleeveless clothing. Seokjin is on a careful diet, and it includes protein shakes. Seokjin is their eye candy and every female ARMY drools over him.

Yoongi is the next oldest and he and Namjoon clash something fierce. There’s a grudging respect there, and they’re professionals, but Yoongi resents, will always resent, the direction Bangtan has taken. They said goodbye to “No More Dream” as their title track when Hyosang left and Jimin came in. He still raps and spits his lyrics, but their “hardcore” image was scrapped long ago. It’s made more complex by the power dynamics between the rappers. Namjoon, despite being a girl, has a lower, throatier voice than Yoongi, fitted to powerhouse raps. Yoongi’s raps cut sharp, and are a great contrast, but there always seems to be this tension that only extremely good producing and arrangements can hide. 

Yoongi gets to be “lazy” as part of his character. His dislike for aegyo is played up, so that he still looks cute all the time- he just has to pretend to resent it a lot more than Hoseok thinks he actually does. Seokjin-oppa is the prince of charm, Yoongi is the cold-outside-but-secretly-warm-inside standoffish boy next door, and Taehyung is the darkly mysterious classmate.

Namjoon respects his work, respects his lyrics, but they’ve been on tenderhooks ever since she blew up at him a month ago. Yoongi doesn’t really get the sacrifices Namjoon made to join Big Hit. Don’t get her wrong, Yoongi made sacrifices too- they _all_ made sacrifices. But Namjoon was incredibly bright, had a future lined up for her at college. She was supposed to be a good girl- not some ‘harlot who ran with underground rappers secretly’. Her parents had arranged a potential match for her (which she hated the idea of anyway) and her parents did not support her dream. They thought- they think- that she’s crazy. They HATE ‘Rap Mistress’. Their relationship is extremely strained, but they haven’t disowned her yet. They’ve given her a timeline though- and they don’t know Namjoon as well as they should, if they think she’d give up. Hoseok sighs. Accidentally overhearing one phone call was enough. 

Namjoon should have been born a man with those rap skills, they all know it. But she wasn’t, and now she has to fit into an uneasy mould. Hoseok’s not sure she can. And they all know- but never said (until Namjoon screamed it in his face) that talent doesn’t matter and regardless of talent Yoongi is 65% more likely to succeed than her just because he has a dick. (It was an awkward screaming match to overhear.) Honestly, most female rappers with her talent go solo. It’s a worry, Hoseok won’t lie. Without Namjoon, she’s not sure Bangtan can continue.

Then there’s Hoseok herself. People think that Hoseok, the “sporty dancer” of the group is fairly true to herself. It’s not wrong; outwardly- there’s so many girls in Bangtan that she does get to be more herself than some of the others, more because it’s been proven (she tried. Big Hit cried) that “sexy” is not really her thing, and she has to be careful because “bubbly” is Jimin’s. They do blur the lines a little though, her and Jimin. So she gets to be sporty, active and “natural”. The only problem, and it is a secret problem, is that Hoseok often needs to pretend to be interested in boys. Hoseok’s not. She’s not interested in girls either though. Hoseok, to be quite honest, is just flat out not interested. This of course, would not go down well at all in the media, so she just lazily creates a small crush on one of the Suju members and hopes nothing ever eventuates. It’s a small problem, in the scheme of things, but Hoseok aches at the deception and it grinds her down. She doesn’t dare tell anyone else; the boys she doesn’t really know well enough, Namjoon has enough on her plate, Jimin she thinks would be supportive but she just doesn’t want to put that pressure on Jimin or Jeongguk. It’s… it’s a bit lonely, at times. 

Namjoon of course, is too much everything. In a solo rapper, her charisma would be forgiven and she could brand herself as a serious female rapper rather than an idol, and even then it might be dicey. But in a group, she has to tone herself down, dial back her raps and censor herself. She’s still a great MC for them, her English improving in leaps and bounds, but she’s frustrated, Hoseok knows. She’s torn over the power rift between her and Seokjin and her and Yoongi. Namjoon spends most of her time around the female line, because Jimin and Hoseok are always supportive, and Jeongguk gets Namjoon. Hoseok knows Namjoon second guesses her choice all the time, but she’s determined to see it through. Hoseok is determined to support her.

Park Jimin is next, and a delightful girl she is. Again here Yoongi has a love-hate relationship. Unlike his respect for Namjoon’s craft but his lack of comfort with her personality, Jimin’s his reverse. Jimin’s so lovable she grows on everybody, but her talent, aside from her charm, is dancing. Her singing is improving in leaps and bounds, but she wasn’t hired for her singing. It’s bad enough for Yoongi that she wasn’t hired to sing; worse still that he sees her presence as the tipping point for turning Bangtan into the group they’ve become. “Just One Day” and “I Need U” were hits, but they weren’t exactly rap songs. Bangtan are gaining in popularity every day, but they’re not who Yoongi wanted to be. Hoseok’s the same, except aside from the cutsey shit she aways gets in their songs, she can actually rap. The problem is, Bangtan needs contrast- this is also partly why Jeongguk raps rarely. Even Yoongi understands- and he’s sure as hell not going to volunteer. So there’s that awkward additional layer of understanding resentment coming from him. Hoseok doesn’t let it bother her- she just wants to be part of this. Maybe one day she’ll release a mixtape- but she’s not holding her breath. 

Jimin’s supposed lack of talent is a talking point online. She’s got a sweet, high pitched voice, but so do plenty of other women, and she’s not as stable as Jeongguk yet. Hoseok also cops it for her “aggravatingly girly rapping”, the contrast to Namjoon and Yoongi’s fast raps. Jimin tries to ignore it, but all the girls know it cuts her deep. It hurts them to watch her. Seokjin tries to help as well, and Taehyung, but she’s usually inconsolable. Hoseok, Jeongguk and occasionally Namjoon just sneak in and hug her to sleep. Jimin is famous for her sexy yet sweet charm- a captivating eye-smile that manages to be simultaneously innocent and mature at the same time. If Namjoon’s fierce and Hoseok’s natural, Jimin’s their sweetheart. 

Their youngest male, Taehyung, is a bit of an oddball. Shy and borderline reclusive, the company markets him as a darkly seductive badboy. In real life nothing could be further from the truth. Taehyung’s smile, when they do see it, is boxy and kind of adorable. The only reason he can pull off sexy is directions from the photographers- it doesn’t come naturally to him. Neither does fitting in, though Hoseok knows Seokjin tries to include him. Hoseok and Jimin like TaeTae, but he’s so shy and they have to be so careful as a coed group that they can’t always include him as they like. And Namjoon still scares the shit out of Tae, especially when she and Yoongi are fighting, so the minute Hoseok and Jimin are on call for Joonie, Taehyung disappears. Still, Hoseok is hopeful that she’ll have their adorable dongsaeng out of his shell one day soon. 

Taehyung is on a diet to ensure his jaw is sharp enough to cut glass. Seokjin gets to bulk up but Tae is kept slender, given lollipops to chew or necks to pretend to bite into. He’s said, especially lately, that he’s getting tired of always being given the same expressions for their photoshoots. (Hoseok’s not optimistic this will change anytime soon.) 

Their youngest, Jeonggukkie, is a tricky one. The golden maknae, they call her. Hoseok’s not stupid- she’s pretty sure Jungkookie’s the reason they managed to debut. Big Hit run an extremely fine line with Jeonggukkie, because she’s their Ga In. See, despite being the maknae of the group, Bangtan already has Jimin and Hoseok to be happy and cute. Jimin is sexy sometimes- but Jeongguk is Big Hit’s answer to the female V. Jeonggukkie, out of all of them, plays the most adult seductive role. They erred on the side of caution (barely) while she was underage, but now she’s an adult, she gets all of the seductive, mysterious woman costumes and roles. 

Jeongguk was actually a good thing; Hoseok reflects. Playing bubbly and innocent (and unlike Jimin, not actually _being_ so innocent) meant people let a lot slip around Hoseok, and she was privy to a number of interesting (and terrifying) conversations. 

Hoseok’s never seen Seokjin and Namjoon unite like they did when fighting for Jeonggukkie. Hoseok’s sure the girl never realised quite how bad her role originally was- all the time. Seokjin and Namjoon were of one mind (and two loud voices) advocating to keep her innocence for as long as possible. But Big Hit weren’t normally sleazy, so it was all the more petrifying to hear about their low sales and the female line’s lack of popularity. Big Hit were concerned- very concerned- about their bottom line. It was hard for them to argue in that light, but sometimes they did anyway- for her.

Jeonggukkie is the triple threat- she sings, she raps (although rarely), and she dances well. Jimin, Jeongguk and Hoseok sometimes are invited on dance shows and Jimin’s secretly whispered her hopes of becoming a dance based subunit. Jeongguk is also very beautiful, but very uncertain. She takes all of the pressure on her shoulders, playing coy to avoid having to show other feelings. Sometimes Hoseok worries Jeongguk spends so much time acting, she doesn’t know how she really feels anymore. It’s only with the female line, especially dance line, that Jeongguk’s true personality begins to shine through. She tells some awful dad-jokes. 

The last few years have been a whirlwind for Hoseok. Bangtan hasn’t been an easy commitment but she’s determined to see it through. They’re improving, as they age and gain more maturity and empathy. Namjoon and Seokjin are allies when they need to be, and she thinks they’re beginning to understand one another. Yoongi seems to be resigning himself to the cute concepts, though he still hates them with a passion. Jeongguk’s gained a whole lot of CFs and is blowing up online. There’s talk she might make a solo debut- heaven knows her vocals carry the group. Hoseok also knows Big Hit are searching for a drama for Seokjin and trying to get Taehyung modelling. 

Yoongi scoffed at ‘Show me the money’, but has taken to producing a little, for Bangtan and for an upcoming boy group. Namjoon’s been begging to be allowed on this new TV show, ‘Unpretty Rapstar’, but Big Hit aren’t sure how Rap Mistress would be received by the public. It won’t be pretty if she’s denied though (Get it? Ugh apparently Jeonggukkie’s not the only one capable of dad-jokes). Yoongi’s surprised face when Big Hit were reluctant for ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ (after suggesting ‘Show me the money’) made Hoseok hopeful that maybe Namjoon and Yoongi will come to a new understanding. She’s pretty sure that if Yoongi experienced what Namjoon has, if he can see and understand, that he’ll come round. Maybe.

There have been a lot of tears- but Bangtan has come far. They’ve fought all the way, but one of their songs has made it into the top 20. Hoseok isn’t kidding herself about how far they’ve got to go… but… to be really cheesy, she has hope. (And for a while there, she wasn’t sure she even had that.)


End file.
